marsh madness

This morning we had all the local weather in a single package: heavy fog, wind, rain, damp and wet everywhere, poor visibility.

Although the tide was somewhat high (and still coming in), I decided to wade out into the marsh with the idea that rails like the cover of darkness and gloom. And, sure enough, a rail starting calling from the open area in the middle of the marsh. Then, as I slogged my way out, a small dark rail suddenly jumped up in front of me and flew past, going a short distance before dropping out of sight. It looked absolutely black and that had me psyched; I turned around as fast as I could and, sloshing into the mud, headed back towards where the rail had dropped in. It flushed again. This time I had a slightly better look. It still looked completely black but there was a patch of white somewhere at the side as it flew. Alas, it was too large for a Black Rail. It might have been a Sora but it seemed too small and too dark and the flash of white was too distinctive (and not on the undertail). It was, most likely, a Yellow Rail, a bird that I saw on this marsh twice in mid-October, 2002. The white flash was probably the white wing patch that is the distinctive feature of this bird. Yellow Rail is a dark bird and it can look quite black in poor light. In 2002, the birds gave an almost unknown call that I later tracked down under the name Descending Cackle (don't bother looking for this on any sound recordings because you won't find it). Alas the 2011 bird did not call.

However the rail in the middle of the marsh continued to call. It sounded like a Clapper Rail but called once or twice with a descending pattern of sound. I finally gave up trying to flush the 'black rail' again (you can flush a rail twice but never, it seems, three times) and headed out to a spot where I could see the open area. There were at least a dozen ducks puddle-ducking in the hole and right in the middle was a Clapper Rail. At least I think it was Clapper Rail. In the gloom, it was impossible to see any color or markings but since there has been one or more Clapper Rails around for the past week or so, I don't have any reason (aside from some slight differences in the calls) to think it was anything else.

Then I saw something that surprised me. The Clapper attacked one of the ducks and put it up in the air, calling loudly all the while. Could a Clapper really spook a Mallard? Oddly enough, the duck didn't look much bigger than the rail. Suddenly I realized that most of the dozen puddle ducks -- perhaps two-thirds of them -- were not Mallards at all but Green-winged Teal!

Eric Salzman